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Retrospect 5.1 now available


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I am happy to announce the release of Retrospect 5.1 for Macintosh.

 

This exciting new version adds many new features including a bootable Disaster Recovery CD and support for Red Hat "Linux" versions 6.2, 7.1, 7.2, 7.3, and 8.

 

A breakdown of changes from 5.0 to 5.1 is found at:

 

http://www.dantz.com/index.php3?SCREEN=kbase&ACTION=KBASE&id=28004

 

In addition to the above changes you will find the following fixes:

 

-DVD-RAM disks can once again be used with Retrospect under Mac OS X.

-Finder.dat files no longer cause Retrospect for Windows clients to incorrectly report file sizes.

-The 5.1 Client no longer uses more then it's fair share of CPU resources over extended periods of time.

-The Apple Menu is no longer available when logged out during backup

-Uses should no longer see the -40 error for retropds.22.

 

Upgrade pricing is available from:

 

http://www.dantz.com/en/upgrades/index.dtml

 

More information can be found on our homepage at http://www.dantz.com

 

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Hmm, $99 to upgrade my workgroup version? I'm running 1 main computer and 4 clients at home/business, seems to be a lot for such a small upgrade, or am I missing something? Reading the list of improvements, half seem to be merely fixing previous bugs, like the retropds one, which wasn't that serious anyway, just annoying.

 

Does the new version backup to multiple hard drives (ie multiple file backups)?

 

Does it fix the airport problem, where the main computer cannot have Ethernet & Airport running at the same time?

 

Does it have an option to select which devices are to be used for backup, so that it doesn't lock out my DVD/CD drive, for the duration of the backup?

 

Can I tell it to stop running the Backup server over & over, when it knows very well, that it has backed up all the clients today and no backup is needed till tomorrow?

 

Hmm? Do I really need this backup? The current version 5, isn't that bad. If none of the above points are fixed, then what exactly is? I don't run Red Hat Linux, nor windows, so those "new" features are not that appealing, and there really doesn't seem to be much else listed that is so wonderfully "new" that I can't live without it. I mean, "Except Cache files" now includes Safari cache, wow! I set that up immediately by copying the existing filter, then adding to exclude all files with the word cache in them, was it that hard, is that a "major new feature" are you kidding me?

 

Sorry to sound so negative, I love retrospect, but this minor upgrade (as it appears to me) should not have such a high price on its head surely. And I don't usually complain about such things, but this seems such a small upgrade to me. I want to know why it would benefit me to purchase it.

 

Regards Paul

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It is good that the server computer can now go to sleep after finishing a backup script. But it still seems far more important to me to be able to wake a client computer for backup, or to be able to suspend the client's sleep or shutdown until backup has completed, then allow it to continue with sleep or shutdown.

 

These features, which were available in previous versions for as long as I've used the product, were expected by me when recommending an upgrade to one of my important clients, and thereby were expected by the client. In describing how Retrospect works, I have always described the suspended shutdown when the user closes out, the running of the backup script at its prescribed time, and then the shutdown after all is done. It's kind of as important as the part where it writes the data to tape.

 

I don't know what the difficulties are in enabling something like this in OS X. I'm not an OS X or unix developer. But the fact that it isn't there, and everyone at Dantz surely must know it's not there, and yet it is not communicated to the customers before they implement it is what really irks me. There should be a big note on page one of the "Before you install" or the user's guide that says, "Hey! You can't allow your clients to sleep if you want to back them up!", and that would get us to take notice!

 

All venting aside, I still am looking for a suggestion on what the "new thinking" is with backup scripts. I've always written them to run at night, using this suspended shutdown feature on the clients. What other options am I not seeing? How can I explain to the users that their computers are no longer allowed to shut down or sleep? Or is there a workaround that I don't know about? Please, any suggestions would be appreciated.

 

Thanks.

 

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I echo these sentiments - $99 for a bug fix (fixing old and very real bugs like the .dat bug and the locking of the DVD drive when using the backup server) which contains some very specialized new features is ridiculous.

 

I guess I'll live with the bugs until there is something upgrade feature I need.

 

-- Bill

very disappointed

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I echo these sentiments too

 

 

 

$99 for a bunch of bug fixs is not very cool. I have used Retro for Mac since 1.0. I feel like the 5.1 "update" should be free. I will pay for a 6.0 (or maybe a 5.5), but not a "dot one". This update is not worth $100.00, especially when it has fixes that 5.0 should have had in the first place.

 

 

 

 

 

I guess I too will have to live with the "old" 5.0 bugs until there are features that I need.

 

 

 

Not mad, but a little dissapointed.

 

 

 

 

 

-DS

 

 

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I'm afraid I have to echo what others have said. I just bought the 5.0 upgrade about three months ago

(in april) to get support for my new FW CD-RW drive and OS X (which I finally upgraded to). I don't think

it's fair to ask me to pay another full upgrade fee (the same fee as a user who last bought retrospect three

YEARS ago) three months later when 5.1 offers so little. Does it fix the broken scroll bar problem? Does it

allow me to treat disk partitions as "removable" disks (like 4.3 did)? I don't use linux and I already have

retrospect for windows, so those features aren't compelling to me.

 

I have been a faithful user of Dantz products since the old DiskFit days, and have even gotten our company

to adopt retrospect for windows backups, but I have to say I'm a little disappointed by this upgrade offering.

If I was still running 4.3 I might be interested, but unless I am offered a fair upgrade price from my recent

purchase of 5.0, I just don't see the point. I would rather have gotten the bug fixes in a 5.0 patch, and paid

for an upgrade that supports panther.

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I've updated to 5.1, but where is the bootable CD? I paid for 5.0 less than 5 mos. ago, and it seems naive enough to pay for an upgrade, but I don't get a bootable recovery CD if I opt to download the point release in order to fix problems with my existing installation!?

 

I'm confused...where is the customer support?

 

Will you folks make an ISO or image available for the bootable CD-ROM, or maybe make a utility so we can create the CD-ROM for use with Retro as needed???

 

Thanks,

 

Kevin

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Is it just me, but I have been unable to find the Dantz Retrospect 5.1 Macintosh upgrade (the acutal downloadable file) ?

 

The press release and knowledgebase README are flamboyantly displayed all over the dantz.com website, but nowhere is a link to download the actual file. Hmmm . . . seems a little "fishy" to me. Even if you check their public ftp site, you'll not find the 5.1 upgrade anywhere. Any ideas ?

 

Why is it that Dantz has released the press release and knowledgebase, but not the actual file ?

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Quote:

optout said:

 

Bootable CD for OSX for Electronic Download who have PURCHASED the upgrade...

 

 

 

Where? How? Why not!?

 

 

 


 

 

 

The very strict licensing agreement provided by Apple does not allow for electronic distribution.

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Unbelievable!

 

Dantz releases a bug fix and charges for it. Personally, I think Dantz should be issuing refunds for the almost unusable Retrospect 5 Server for OS X, a product riddled with bugs. Not a week goes by that I don't encounter a problem with version 5.0.238. I guess it's too much to expect that Dantz would fix the bugs for free.

 

Extremely angry at Dantz,

 

Jeremy Broadhead

Information Systems Specialist

Tufts University

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I am also very frustrated, since I had a look at this document:

http://dantz.com/index.php3?SCREEN=kbase&ACTION=KBASE&id=27823

 

Was Retrospect for Windows there before the Mac version?

It seems the Mac community is not important any more.

 

As most posters in this topic I have to agree, that since Retro 5 for OS X there is more trouble then usability. We have to live with bugs and accept real downgrades (No cient shutdown after backup, even when utilities such Kudown can shut down an OS X client... http://www.kualosw.com/English/Pages/Utilities.html ).

Sure, the port to OS X was hard to manage, but when the Mac community will get the same features as the windows users have?

Are Macs and OS X sooo limited, or what?

 

Retrospect 6.5 for Windows, Available Features (which are missing in the Mac version)

-Drag and Drop user interface for manual changing of tapes

-Bar Code Support to speed tape access

-Storage Slot Memory. Retrospect will remember the tape locations in the library, even after opening the loader door, quitting or restarting the computer.

-Cleaning Tape Reservation. The user can specify which slot contains a cleaning tape. This slot is ignored when moving or erasing media.

-Automatic Tape Cleaning

-Multiple Drive/Multiple Execution (MDME). Simultaneous read/write operations to multiple drives.

-Import-Export Slot Support. Allows users to move tapes to and from the library slots without opening the main door

-Multiple Import-Export Slot Support. Allows users to move tapes to and from the library slots without opening the main door

-Multiple Drive Support when scanning media or erasing all media

-Drive Binding. Organizational feature that allows user to bind Backup Sets to particular drives.

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